"A master of mood and atmosphere” (New York Times), Colin Harrison is the author of six thrillers, including Manhattan Nocturne, The Havana Room, and his latest, The Finder, a tale of global intrigue that reveals New York in all of its 21st-century splendor, greed, violence and desire. He spent six...

Charles Bock’s debut novel, Beautiful Children, is a sweeping portrait of a depraved Las Vegas--from the bland misery of the suburbs to the explosive and exploitative sex industry--through the eyes of a runaway boy. The Washington Post writes, “[Bock’s] ability to share a deep understanding of America’s million or so...

Veronica Chambers has written and edited for national magazines for 12 years. Her memoir Mama’s Girl was deemed “extraordinary” by People magazine and named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Her latest book, Kickboxing Geishas, examines boundary-busting modern Japanese women who freely mix East and...

Belong to Me is Marisa de los Santos’s follow-up to her New York Times bestselling novel Love Walked In. With a focus on what happens when leaps of faith and twists of fate collide with carefully constructed outer images, Belong to Me is a “bewitching, warmhearted grown-up fairy tale” (Jennifer...

A native of the Scottish Highlands, Margot Livesey‘s thoughtful fiction showcases a keen wit and a wise heart. Her forthcoming novel, The House on Fortune Street, explores multiple perspectives on the life of a young London therapist while paying subtle homage to literary figures and works including Jane Eyre and Great...

Gregory Maguire writes novels in which classic villains turn out to be heroes--and supposed heroes disappoint. In Wicked, his bestselling novel and basis for the smash Broadway musical of the same name, he profiles Elphaba, the misunderstood Wicked Witch of the West. In Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, a retelling...

Anne Perry is the author of several bestselling mystery novels featuring famed protagonists Inspector William Monk and Special Services Detective Thomas Pitt. Buckingham Palace Gardens is her latest novel featuring Detective Pitt, who is called in to investigate the mystery behind a mutilated body found among the Queen’s monogrammed sheets...

For his 2003 novel, I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, Brian Hall won acclaim for the way he used the intimate voice of fiction to capture the half-hidden personal stories of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In his new novel, Fall of Frost, Hall turns to the life...

A reporter for more than 20 years, including more than a decade at the Baltimore Sun, Laura Lippman infuses her Tess Monaghan Mysteries with the authenticity of experience. Ms. Lippman will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11, the same day her...

Winner of the 1996 National Book Award for fiction for her story collection Ship Fever, Andrea Barrett will be appearing at the Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium tomorrow, Thursday, October 11, at 7:00 p.m. (Also appearing as part of the same program will be celebrated novelist Claire Messud, author of When...

Ann Patchett will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium on Wednesday, October 3, at 8:00 p.m. Click here for ticket info. She recently took a moment to chat with us about some of our favorite topics.
What role have libraries played in your life?
Going to the library was...

Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket himself) will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium on Tuesday, October 2, at 8:00 p.m. Click here for ticket info. He recently took a moment to chat with us about some of our favorite topics.
What role have libraries played in your life?
My local library,...

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium tomorrow, Thursday, September 20, at 12:00 p.m. (This event is free; no tickets required.) His latest book, Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far), was released this past Monday. Mr. Barry recently took some time...

Diane Ackerman, acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Senses, will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium this Thursday, September 20, at 8:00 p.m. (Click here to buy tickets online.) Ackerman's new book, The Zookeeper's Wife, was just released this month; it's a narrative nonfiction account of...

Science fiction icon William Gibson will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium this Thursday, August 16 at 7:00 p.m. (This event is free; no tickets required.) His latest novel, Spook Country, was released earlier this month. Mr. Gibson took a few moments to chat with us about some...

Alison Bechdel is best known for her long-running, syndicated comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, which she first began working on in the early 1980s. Her bestselling memoir in graphic novel form, Fun Home, was published last year to critical acclaim from both within and beyond the GLBT and...

On the strength of a manuscript of her first novel, The Icarus Girl , author Helen Oyeyemi signed a two-book deal with British publisher Bloomsbury at the age of 19. Having recently graduated from Cambridge University, Oyeyemi is back with her second novel, The Opposite House, a work that "explores...

Author Julia Glass will be appearing at the Central Library’s Skyline Room on Thursday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. (This event is free; no tickets required.) Glass won the National Book Award in 2002 for her debut novel, Three Junes. Her second novel, The Whole World Over, was published in...

Jonathan Lethem will read at the Central Library tomorrow, March 22, at 7:00 p.m. for FREE. His latest work is called You Don’t Love Me Yet, a comic novel set in Los Angeles. He took a few moments to chat with the Free Library Blog and answer our most pressing questions.
1. What role have libraries played in your life?
"The Pacific Street branch of the Brooklyn Public Library -- a classic little rotunda with a circular upper gallery of sections, looking out over a balcony onto the main desk below -- was my home-away-from-home. I remember acquiring my card, with my...

Colum McCann will read with John Banville tomorrow night (March 13) at the Central Library at 7:00 p.m. for FREE. His most recent work, Dancer, is a fictional biography that has received much critical acclaim. Mr. McCann took a few moments to speak with the Free Library Blog and answer our most pressing questions.
1. What role have libraries played in your life?
"They've played an extraordinary part in my creative life -- so much so, in fact, that my new novel is dedicated to librarians, not just those at the New York Public Library but librarians everywhere. Libraries are my imagination's...